Cloak and Dagger
by Violet Redmoor
Summary: MWPP fic set in their second year about the time a certain secret comes out
1. Cloak

Disclaimer: I'm not J K Rowling, and I don't own Harry Potter or any related charcters/settings

Rating: T for violence/adult themes

Summary: MWPP fic set in their second year. James gets a very useful Christmas present, and three Marauders try to solve a mystery

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Most of the Gryffindors had returned from the holidays, and with the common room full Remus and Sirius had retreated to their dormitory. They were playing Exploding Snap when the door was burst open by another small explosion; in the form of James Potter.

"Hi there," he said as he slung his belongings in a heap on the bed. Peter followed through the door in James' wake. "Good Christmas?" He did not wait for an answer. "I got the best present ever from my dad... you'll never guess!" He threw himself onto the remaining space on his bed and grinned at them expectantly.

"Year's supply of Fizzing Whizbees?" suggested Sirius. "Snap!"

"Wrong!"

"Ouch!" Remus felt the end of his nose gingerly; he had been painfully close to the exploding cards. "Um... Prototype Nimbus 1500?" Remus would not have been so pleased with that as a present, but to James' Quidditch-obsessed mind it probably would seem like the best present in the world. Not that there was any chance of him getting one; the prototypes that had been produced and released in a fanfare of publicity last autumn had all gone for trials with international teams.

"Better," replied James gleefully. His eyes were sparkling in a way that suggested mischief was brewing.

"Better than a Nimbus 1500?" echoed Sirius doubtfully, looking up from his self-appointed task of exploding the rest of the pack of cards. Peter was gaping at James in awe. Remus turned his chair round to face James, aware that with this much build up they were not going to be told his secret until he was satisfied he had their complete attention.

"No more guesses?"

All three of them shook their heads.

"Ok, wait there." He sat up and dived into his trunk, sending a small shower of socks in Sirius' direction. Sirius pushed them back onto James' bed with a small noise of disgust, and when he looked up again, James was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go? James?" Remus' mouth had dropped open and his eyes were as wide as Peter's. Neither of them seemed to be able to answer Sirius; the best Remus managed was to point at the bed and stutter slightly.

James laughed and suddenly his head reappeared, floating a few feet above the bed. The sight gave Sirius such a shock that he fell out of his chair.

"Blimey! That isn't..."

"That is!" James reappeared in stages as he disentangled himself from a long, silvery cloak. As soon is it was off, Sirius pounced on it and held it up to the light. With a cry of delight, he swung it around his shoulders and he too vanished from sight.

"An Invisibility Cloak!" crowed Sirius' disembodied voice. "You have the best dad!"

"He told me not to get in any trouble with it," laughed James as Sirius pulled off the Cloak and handed it back. "I don't know what else he expects me to do, giving me that! Shall we try it out tonight?"

Even Remus only made one or two half-hearted protests.

Lessons started next morning, and all four of them got into trouble in their first lesson, Herbology, for inattention. They had been up all night, roaming the corridors under cover of James' Cloak. They had found two new secret passageways; terrified a pair of choirgirl ghosts witless and followed Argus Filch around on one of his patrols, stifling peals of laughter whenever he turned around and peered straight through them. The price for this hilarity was that they were now close to dropping asleep at their bench.

By the time they had retreated to the common room for the evening, they barely managed to stay awake long enough to make a hashed attempt at some homework before crawling up to bed, and they were fast asleep within seconds.

That did not discourage James one bit. Next morning at breakfast he and Sirius were already planning their next escapade. Somehow they had obtained the password to the Slytherins' common room, and with an Invisibility Cloak the opportunities were limitless.

"Tonight?" suggested Sirius when their plans were complete.

Remus – who did not look as if he had fully recovered from their last night of wandering – blushed. "Um... I can't, tonight."

"Ah, Loopy! You can't chicken out on us. We need you there; you're the only one who's really mastered that Charm."

"Go on, Loopy. It'll be fun."

"No, I can't. I'm... I'm visiting my mum again this evening."

"Oh. Well, ok. We'll put it off 'til you get back then." No more was said; they all felt sorry for Remus, with his mother so ill.

They used the evening to catch up on homework instead, as much as Sirius complained it was a waste of his time. They took it in terms to try and explain things to Peter, wondering how Remus managed to be so patient with him.

"No, Peter," said Sirius, exasperated. "Like this." He waved his wand and beaker of water in front of them started bubbling. Professor Flitwick said they would be heating and cooling harder things than water soon, but Peter had not even mastered this.

"You do it too fast," whined Peter. "I don't get that flick at the end..."

"Just try, will you?" Sirius turned the water back to normal and Peter, an expression of apprehensive concentration on his face, did his best to copy. The surface of the water shivered for a minute, then one big bubble formed, burst, and the beaker cracked, yet again. The water drained out and one of the halves of the beaker rolled onto the floor. With a deep breath, Sirius bent to retrieve it.

"Hey, Sirius," Sirius banged his head on the underside of the table as he tried to look up at James, and yelped. He emerged a second later, rubbing his head and glaring. James was looking out of a window onto the grounds, frowning. "Didn't Loopy say he was going to visit his mum again today?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Isn't that him there, walking across the grounds?"

Sirius scrambled from his seat with another sigh, and joined James by the window. Peter looked up from the battered and struggling textbook and watched them. "Where?" He followed James' gaze. "Actually, you're right. That does look like him. With Madam Philpot, isn't it? I wonder what... Why would he have said he was visiting his mother if he wasn't?"

"I don't know... hang on, I'll get my Cloak."

Neither Sirius nor Peter questioned why; this was a mystery demanding to be solved, exactly what James' new Invisibility Cloak needed. They could, of course, wait until they saw Remus the next day and ask him to explain it, but that thought never occurred to any of them.

All four of them had fit under the Cloak on its first expedition, so three should have no problem, but they still had to walk slowly to avoid a foot slipping out and giving them away. By the time they reached the grounds, there was no sight of their friend or the Matron.

"Dammit," muttered Sirius. "Which way were they heading?"

"We need to move round so we can see the common room window. We can have a better guess from there." Neither Sirius nor Peter had a better suggestion, so still moving carefully they headed towards the foot of Gryffindor Tower. Knowing that a member of staff was wandering this part of the grounds, they did not dare light a wand to show them the way, but the moon shone brightly on the snow, and between it and the lighted windows of the castle they could see well enough.

"Well, here's the Tower," said Peter unnecessarily when they reached its base. "Where did you see them?"

"Over this way a bit," replied James, pointing and pulling both his friends with him. He glanced back at the common room window to get his bearings and then stopped near the greenhouses, peering around as if he expected Remus to jump out from behind one of them.

"I can't see anything..."

"Shh!" A lantern light had just appeared in the distance. They edged warily towards it to find Madam Philpot returning. Alone. They stood carefully to one side, out of her way and held their breath as she passed within inches of them, muttering some spell under her breath. They waited for her lantern to be once more out of sight and then shed the Cloak.

"Where is he?" They walked further along the route Madam Philpot had taken but found no sign of Remus. Their three sets of footprints trailed behind them but there was no sign of any belonging to Remus or Madam Philpot. They were so occupied looking for their friend that they paid very little attention to their surroundings until Sirius was knocked off his feet with a startled yell and they realised that they had wandered into the shadow of the Whomping Willow.

James narrowly avoided another branch as he backed out of the tree's reach, and though Peter was hit, he too scrambled clear with no damage.

"Vicious bloody thing," muttered Sirius angrily as James helped him to his feet and Peter retrieved his wand, which had gone flying when he had. "I'll get it one day," he added, brushing snow from his clothes and blood from his forehead. Most of the boys in the school played a game of trying to get close enough to touch the Willow's trunk. Peter declined to join in, knowing he would never manage, but James and Sirius were both fairly accomplished, getting nearer than many. Oddly enough, when they had convinced him to have a go, Remus had proved to be one of the best in the school, dodging the flailing branches and getting within a hands-breadth before being beaten back. He had laughed off the bruises and cuts that resulted but no amount of persuasion had made him try again.

"This is pointless," said Peter.

"He's right," admitted James reluctantly. "We can't search the whole grounds for him, and we've no idea where he went."

"We'll have to keep a close watch on him next time he says he's visiting his mum," said Sirius. "With the Cloak it shouldn't be too difficult."


	2. Mystery

Disclaimer: Well, I wasn't J K Rowling last chapter, and I don't seem to have changed much, so I still own none of the Harry Potter world

Rating: T

Summary: Has Remus' secret been discovered?

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Remus was not at breakfast the next morning. None of the three boys said anything, though they exchanged significant glances. Neither did he turn up in Transfiguration or History of Magic. Professor McGonagall made no comment on his absence. Nor did Binns, but since he only seemed vaguely aware he had a class at all, that could not be taken to mean anything.

He reappeared at lunch, sickly pale, looking as though he had not slept in weeks, and with one hand bandaged.

"Had a bit of an accident, Loopy?" asked James casually.

"Mmm." Food had appeared on the plates, and although Sirius, James and Peter were tucking in with great enjoyment, Remus merely pushed it around his plate with his fork. Once or twice he scooped up a forkful but barely got as far as lifting it off the plate before giving up completely.

"You don't look very well," remarked Sirius. Remus took a bread roll and began picking at it, tearing off miniscule portions and chewing them very slowly.

"I do feel a bit ill," agreed Remus.

"Catch a chill last night, did you?"

"Er... no."

"It's the wrong time of year to be wandering round the grounds all evening," said James. Both he and Sirius were watching Remus intently. Peter glanced up, frowning, then suddenly seemed to realise what they were doing. His eyes grew very round and he carefully laid down his fork to watch.

"Too cold," said Remus, sounding very uncertain.

"That's why we gave up and came back in."

Remus looked even sicker than before. He had gone bone white and had stopped even trying to eat. His eyes flicked from one to the other of them.

"I thought it was the Slytherin common room you were interested in exploring, not the grounds."

"Oh, well, we saw something to change our minds." James did not elaborate. Remus glanced down to see that he had unconsciously crushed the bread roll in his fist.

"I... um, I think I'll go see if Madam Philpot has anything to settle my stomach," he said, talking breathily and far too fast. "See you in class." He got to his feet and almost ran from the room, causing several other people to look up curiously.

"It's just Loopy," James heard a Slytherin say scornfully. "He spends so much time in the hospital wing I'm surprised they don't just leave him there."

"Well, you definitely had him rattled," remarked Sirius. "What _was _he doing out there?"

But James wasn't listening. "He is ill a lot, isn't he?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I guess so." Sirius frowned. "Actually, you're right. He never looks well after he's – ah – been to see his mum."

"Maybe he catches it off her?" suggested Peter. James and Sirius rolled their eyes.

"Peter, you prat, that might have explained it, except that now we know he doesn't actually go and visit her."

"Oh." Peter went red. "Oh, I suppose so."

"I wonder..." James had obviously had an idea, but as he didn't seem about to share it, Peter returned to his lunch, only occasionally glancing up to see James still staring into the distance, chewing absent-mindedly. Sirius started flirting with his neighbour, a third year girl who seemed to enjoy the attention.

They arrived outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom just as the bell went, to find Remus already waiting there. He was leaning against the wall of the corridor with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, looking no better than he had at lunch. The winter sunlight falling on his face highlighted the veins that showed through his pale skin and a couple of scratches across one cheek that they had not noticed earlier.

"Well, in you go!" Professor Salbre walked through the milling students to open the door. "Mr Lupin, this is lesson time; you can sleep later." Salbre had taken an instant dislike to Remus at the beginning of their first year and never missed an opportunity to show it. Remus opened tired eyes and stooped to collect his schoolbag. His eyes fell briefly on James, Sirius and Peter, but he looked away again immediately and followed Professor Salbre into the classroom with his head down, speaking to no one.

He still did not speak when Peter and James took their accustomed places on either side of him and began emptying their schoolbags of textbooks, quills and parchment.

"You will open your textbooks at page one hundred and seventy-three; today we will be studying Grindylows." He tapped the blackboard with his wand while the class flicked through their books to the correct page, and proceeded to lecture them on the creature and ways to protect themselves from it.

Another tap on the board and an assignment appeared; an essay on the habitat of the Grindylow, the dangers it presented to a witch or wizard and the various methods of escaping an attack. For a while the classroom was silent save the scratching of quills on parchment and the rustling of pages in textbooks being turned. Professor Salbre, as was his habit, patrolled the classroom with an eagle eye for misbehaviour or inattentiveness. To begin Remus kept half an eye on Peter, waiting to be asked for help, but Peter seemed to have the hang of this topic, and so he turned his attention back to his own essay.

"Potter!" snapped Professor Salbre, inches behind Remus' head. Remus jumped half out of his seat, as did James; they had not realised the Professor was in their section of the classroom. "As admirable as your enthusiasm for the subject is, today we are studying Grindylows. Kindly turn your attention to the task in hand." James hurriedly pulled his parchment towards him; he had been reading far ahead in the textbook, on a topic they would not be covering until much later in the year. As he turned back to the relevant section Remus saw the heading of the page he had been reading. Werewolves.

Coincidence, he told himself, trying to concentrate on his work. Professor Salbre would seize any excuse to reprimand him; he did not intend to give him one. Coincidence. James was just reading ahead; I know it's one of his favourite subjects...

But those questions! He shuddered as he thought back to the interrogation he had got at lunch. There was no other explanation; the other three had seen him in the grounds last night, after he had told them he was going home to see his mother. They must have guessed. They knew his secret. All they had to do was look back over the last year and work out that his disappearances were four weeks apart, on the full moons.

What would they do? Go to a teacher, perhaps. All the teachers knew what he was already, but how they would react to the pupils finding out was anyone's guess. If too many people objected, not even Dumbledore would be able to keep him in the school.

The bell rang. Remus glanced at alarm at his parchment as Salbre announced their homework was to finish it, for handing in next lesson. He had written barely half a foot; that would be more work to catch up on, on top of Transfiguration and History of Magic. And if James and Sirius knew about him, they would want nothing more to do with him. He would have to find someone else's notes to borrow... He almost laughed at himself, what a stupid, mundane thing to be worrying about now.

He sat with the others in Herbology, worrying the whole time about what they would do, whether he would be allowed to stay at Hogwarts. He had been so happy when he realised these boys, normal boys, wanted to be his friends. They might call him Loopy, and tease about his bookishness and shyness, but they were friends. He had lived most his childhood being solitary, but now he did not know if he could go back to being alone, always alone.

After Herbology he made it easy for the others to leave without him, delaying the inevitable confrontation as long as possible. He took his time packing his belongings back into his bag, then headed to the Tower instead of the Great Hall, only going down to dinner after sitting on his bed for ten minutes trying to school himself into a semblance of calm. As he had expected, the tables had all filled up, and though a gap had been left beside Peter for him, he pretended not to see them at all and sat instead at the very end of the long table, eating quickly and skipping desert so he could leave before them.

"He's been avoiding us all afternoon," remarked Sirius as they saw Remus leave the Hall, not once looking back for them. "What can he not want us to know that much?"

James, who had been very quiet since Defence Against the Dark Arts, swallowed his mouthful of treacle tart. "I need to talk to you to about that," he said. "I think I might have figured it out."

There was no sign of Remus in the common room, and James hurried the other two back to their dormitory.

"How often does Loopy disappear?"

Sirius thought back carefully. Apart from the regular visits to his mother, occasionally Remus went missing for a day or two with a different explanation; usually that he'd been taken ill. He was so sickly that they had never thought much of it. "About once a month, all in all."

James nodded. "Can you remember exactly when the last one was?" he asked. He pulled out a calendar from his trunk and marked last night on it.

"About a week before Christmas," replied Sirius.

"Yes, I remember," added Peter eagerly. "He missed Potions, so it must have been a Wednesday."

James marked that on the calendar too. "And before that, he missed the Ravenclaw-Slytherin Quidditch match." There was exactly four weeks between each of the marks. He looked up at Sirius, who was studying the calendar with a thoughtful frown, and Peter, who was watching him expectantly. He had been thinking about this all afternoon but was not sure how to put it to his two friends.

"Last night was a full moon," said Sirius quietly, plainly having followed the same line of thought as James. He counted back the weeks to the next mark, and again to the third. "Three full moons."

"And he always comes back looking ill, and often with little injuries. I suppose Madam Philpot must deal with anything major."

Sirius had reached the same conclusion that James had done at lunch. "You were reading about werewolves in Salbre's lesson," he remembered. "Do you think..."

James nodded soberly. "Yes, I do."

"What?" squeaked Peter. "W... werewolf? But..." All the blood drained from his face. "We have to tell someone. Tell Professor Dumbledore..."

"Don't be stupid, Peter," snarled Sirius. "All the teachers must know or he wouldn't have been able to come here."

"But..."

James took pity on Peter, who looked positively terrified. "It's not so bad, Pete. They've obviously got safety measures in place. Madam Philpot would have been taking him somewhere secure last night, I'd guess."

"Yes," agreed Sirius, "somewhere he can't get out of. And then he stays in the hospital wing until he's recovered..."

"But..." Peter still did not seem convinced. "He seems so normal."

"Well, it isn't his fault. You don't think he asked to be bitten?"

"No, no..." Peter took a deep breath. "I suppose he is normal for most of the month, isn't he?"

"I can't believe he didn't tell us," said Sirius.

"Do we tell him we've figured it out?"

"He must know we have, or at least that we were on our way to... that's why he's been avoiding us all afternoon."

"Maybe we'll leave him guessing for a little while?" suggested James. "After all, he left us guessing for over a year."


	3. Torment

Disclaimer: J K Rowling and her various publishers own Harry Potter, and I, alas, am none of them

Rating: T

Summary: Remus tries to cope with his friends' reactions

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Charms was usually one of Remus' best subjects, but he had spent most of last night wandering the castle until he had been too tired to walk in a straight line and he had been sure James, Sirius and Peter would have given up waiting for him and gone to bed. Struggling with tiredness and with yesterday's worries still preying on his mind, Professor Flitwick's voice kept fading into a meaningless buzz while he tried to take notes on Heating and Cooling Charms.

"Are you all right?" He sat with Lily Evans in Charms, a mistake from their first lesson of the year that neither of them saw any reason to correct, as much as Sirius teased him for it. James did not tease; Remus suspected that he was slightly jealous.

"Fine," he replied shortly, feeling a little ashamed with himself. Lily had always been kind to him, and there was no reason for him to start snapping at her because he was having problems with his friends. But he could feel James' eyes boring into the back of his head, and could just imagine the conversation James would have with Lily later.

"Are you sure?" she persisted, taking no offence at his abrupt tone. "You don't look at all well."

"Don't worry about him, Evans," said James in a low voice. "Wrong time of the month." Remus couldn't help himself, he turned in his chair to stare at James in alarm. His friend – former friend, Remus suspected – gave him an evil grin and turned back to a game of hangman he was playing with Sirius. Lily seemed nonplussed – she at least had not yet learned his secret – and Remus forced himself to shrug expansively as if it was just some weird joke of James'. His hands were shaking so badly that his quill dripped ink all over his parchment; he tried to clear it up with an Erasing Charm that should have been simple for him and only succeeded in blurring it further. He dropped his quill onto the desk before he could do any more damage, and sat there shaking. Lily took pity on him and cleared up his notes with a quick wave of her own wand.

"I don't know why you don't just go to the hospital wing," she whispered, "but if you insist on staying here don't worry about taking notes. I'll copy mine for you later." He stammered vague thanks, which she waved away, her attention back on Flitwick. Maybe now that James and Sirius had turned against him he could be Lily's friend? But they would never allow that; they would tell her his terrible secret and then he would be back to square one again. Better to cut himself off from everyone so that when the inevitable summons came from Dumbledore, when he was told that he had to go home and leave Hogwarts and his friends, it would not hurt so much.

Potions was worse. It was his worse subject anyway, even worse than Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Salbre breathing down his neck at every opportunity. And there was no concerned Lily in this class; she was over the other side of the classroom with Madeline Pincey and Briony Westburrow. Remus, as usual, was between James and Peter. Peter had never managed to understand that Remus, who was so unfailingly helpful in every other class, had enough of a struggle just keeping up in Potions without tutoring him.

Bad enough were the sneaking, sideways glances he was getting from Sirius and James. Bad enough that Peter stared at him, an expression of great discomfort on his round face, whenever he thought Remus was not looking. Bad enough that his hands were still shaking bad enough to spill ingredients that really ought not to be spilt. Professor Dillywood was much more sympathetic than many others would have been; merely sighing expressively when a potent mixture burnt a hole in the desk and yet another potion went drastically wrong. He repaired the damage to the desk with a single wave of his wand, emptied away the potion, provided Remus and Peter with half of James and Sirius' and asked them to continue from that point.

"Burning the candle at both ends, Lupin?" suggested Professor Dillywood, not unkindly. "Perhaps the class would go easier if you weren't half asleep."

"No need for candles, eh, Loopy?" muttered Sirius when Professor Dillywood had left again. "Moon's plenty bright enough." Remus flinched and another flask dropped from his hand, although this time Peter managed to catch it before it shattered, and only a few drops escaped to sizzle on the desk and the floor.

Remus doubted that the potion they eventually handed in would be any use, unless someone _wanted _to burn holes in the furniture. But it did at least superficially resemble the potions handed in by James and Sirius and Lily and Madeline, who were the best in this class as they were in almost everything else. They would at least get _some _marks.

Friday was half day, which meant that after lunch James and Sirius would have a whole afternoon of leisure to torment him. He was not sure which was worse; they seemed to prefer tormenting him to making his secret public knowledge, at least at the moment. The sharp, pointed remarks were becoming almost unbearable, but when they got bored of that – bored of knowing more than everyone else and making him suffer for it – the only course of action open to them was to tell someone. And that was when he would find himself in real trouble.

He was a nervous wreck, but he did not feel sick any more, and after a couple of days with very little food, he practically inhaled his lunch. He barely noticed what he was eating.

"This steak is overdone," remarked Sirius, dissecting it and wrinkling his nose at the plate. "Have you been upsetting the house elves again, James?"

"Don't know what you mean. Anyway, I like them like this; I can't understand how you eat them when they're practically still bleeding. It's probably too well done for Loopy, though. I expect you like your meat raw... sorry, _rare_, don't you?" Remus blanched and pushed away his plate, suddenly feeling ill again; the memory of the wolf's craving for flesh still far too near.

After lunch they retreated to the common room, but it seemed to Remus that every time he turned around James or Sirius were making pointed comments.

"Oh, I like something I can really get my teeth into..."

"Can I borrow your Astronomy notes, Loopy? The ones on the phases of the moon..."

"You'd have to be _howling _mad..."

"Stop _mooning _around..."

Before an hour had passed he was a nervous wreck. When Sirius suggested they go outside, James and Peter agreed instantly, but Remus seized on his chance to get away from their company.

"I still don't feel so great... I don't fancy going into the cold."

"What you need is a fur coat," said Sirius, all wide-eyed innocence. "I bet you don't feel the cold in that."

"No, you stay in, if you don't feel well," said James in apparent sympathy. "Save your energy for tonight; we'll be out in the _moonlight _with my Cloak." With that parting shot they left, James and Sirius chuckling to themselves. For a few moments Remus sat where he was, staring blankly into the fire. There was no longer any possibility of coincidence; James, Sirius and Peter knew, and they were making him suffer for it even more than he suffered already.

After a year in their company, he understood them well enough to know how it would go. He could not take much more of this, but he would not have to. Give it the rest of today, maybe, and they would have exhausted the amusement this torture could afford them. That would be when his secret spread to the rest of the school, when he was told he could no longer stay here. He would go back home, doomed to a life alone, with no friends, no prospects and nothing to look forward to beyond the next night spent chained in his parent's cellar. And when his parents died? Well, the Ministry had places for werewolves who could not look after themselves.


End file.
